Good Afternoon and a Merry Christmas to you all:
Yes, I am aware of the obvious contradictions (I prefer the term "complexities") of sending out a blog that introduces a new work on one of the foremost radicals in the black intellectual tradition - Frantz Fanon - on this day, which has become perhaps the central religious symbol of the high holidays of American capitalist consumption. But, alas, this is the conundrum of being a New World Negro Scholar...
For a number of reasons, I am sending this out in this moment:
First (the selfish reason), I am in the process of sorting through a dissertation chapter on the Black Arts Movement and it is impossible to examine the various iterations of Black Power, in politics and culture, without taking seriously the import of Fanon's thinking on this generation. I'm thinking about Fanon, so here you go...
Second (perhaps less selfish), in the spirit of giving I wanted to support the work of a good friend of mine, Vivaldi Jean-Marie, who I was privileged to meet at the beginning of 2007, while we were both teaching at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn.
Val is a sharp brother trained in the continental tradition - in fact, he was the first person of African descent to finish the New School's PhD program in Philosophy in over twenty years - who I have had the opportunity to break bread with on topics ranging from the unique opportunities of teaching at an HBCU, the challenges of balancing personal commitments and professional aspirations, the joys and anxieties of entering fatherhood (both of our wives are due to give birth in January), and how to find a great sale on high end jeans (the only way most of us in the Academy can afford them)... I digress.
Anyway, it gives me great pleasure to introduce Val to you all and to celebrate the publication of his first book. By the way, he has already finished the manuscript for his second book- a revision of his dissertation on Hegel and Kierkegaard.
What follows is more formal intro provided by Val himself and a link to where you can find his book.
A Peaceful Holiday season to you all!
Respect, Josef
Vivaldi Jean-Marie received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the New School for Social Research in New York City. He is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, NY. Fanon: Collective Ethics and Humanism is his first book and focuses on Frantz Fanon's final book Wretched of the Earth. Dr. Jean-Marie's research project is to reflect on the ethical experiences of the people of Africa and the African Diaspora. The key question is: What is the good life for the people of Africa and the African Diaspora in the Post-Colonial period? This fundamental question was raised by Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics, which attempts to formulate the Ethos of the happy life for Westerners, but it has not been raised for the people of Africa and the African Diaspora. Fanon:Collective Ethics and Humanism is his first attempt to address this question from a social, cultural, and political perspective.
You can purchase the book on Amazon or at Peter Lang.